Mental Health

Mental health is a sticky topic; one that too easily falls by the wayside in life. We’d like to think that it’s just a minority who experience problems with their mental health – these people, we hope, can be packaged away and dismissed from the mainstream. It’s not that people are insensitive, but our reliance on our own perceptions to tell us the truth, no matter what the circumstance, is what allows us to continue to function. As Descartes rightly asserted, to question everything is neither productive nor stable. The idea that we, or those close to us, can suffer from a disorder of mental health is itself not conducive to a sane outlook.

Nevertheless it remains a fact that between 10 and 25 percent of the population as a whole suffers from a mental health disorder (defined medically) at any given time. Here at University, where the pressure is suddenly and definitively switched to ‘on’, where friends and family are often left behind for the first time and where the responsibilities of adult life first start to knock on the door, it’s unsurprising that students can fall prey to demons previously held at bay. And it seems to me that from private conversations and public confessions, a large portion of my close friends – too many – have been suffering in silence. Maybe I just attract those I affectionately call ‘mentalists’. I’m aware that the term is often misused, but it is not derogatory; I count myself among their number.

My personal demon, after a brief flit with schizoid symptoms in my teens, has restlessly settled under the umbrella term ‘depression’. It’s an overused word; I’m torn between thinking that people should shut up about what they don’t know about and thinking it’s something empathetic even when it’s used in ignorance (like ‘I have an OCD about x’, hearing someone who seems happy enough describe themselves as ‘clinically depressed’ for what I can only assume is comic exaggeration makes me cringe a little inside – the psychology student in me, maybe?). But as I said, perhaps people aren’t as ignorant on the subject as I had suspected. Given that you need a certain level of ability to reach university, and that mental health problems are more common among the *ahem* cranially well-endowed, perhaps I’m operating with a biased sample.

Which in a roundabout way is why I’m writing this article. Because if you, like me, and like so many others, are having psychological problems, I’d like you to know that whilst unique you are not alone, and that there is help available for you. The simplest way to get help is to go to your GP – largely useless and conceited individuals though they may be, but the systems in place are there to support you no matter how flawed they may be. My experience ran roughly as follows:

GP: “So, what kind of problems are you having?”

Me: “I think I’m depressed”

GP: (Bluntly, and not without a pull-yourself-together look) “And what would you like to do about that?”

Me: “Well, I’d like to take a pill and not have to really worry about it any more than that.”

GP: “Ok, here.” (Hands me a prescription for a well-known anti-depressant. I won’t say the name lest you think this is some sort of advertorial, but if asked by a friend I say “it’s for Pro’s”.)

And that was about it. I’ve tried therapy and it’s not for me. This is something I realised around the age of 16, when faced with the prospect of hospitalisation – because the drugs had failed to work, the next resort was one which I felt threatened me with a descent into the kind of stigmatised wreck which I had seen my father become. There’s nothing worse or more disempowering to me than the prospect of having my personality and personhood dismissed with the platitude ‘she’s ill’. This way, I maintain the control I need in order to continue – I take the pill, and it stops me from coming up with empty ‘con’ columns on the pro/con list of gently stepping out in front of any passing bus. I would point out here that suicide is a stupid, wasteful, selfish, ugly act.

However, there are other options – I’ve had the ‘oooh, but you’re not addressing the root causes, only the symptoms’ lecture, and although I think it’s a stupid holdover from when people didn’t understand that the brain, and the personality, depend on physical systems which can malfunction and be corrected, the fact remains that therapy/counselling works for many people. People who have fewer issues with control, probably. Therefore I suggest – in seriousness – that you visit the universally kind and professional people at your nearest counselling service, of which there is one near the precinct on Oxford Road. Although difficult to find unless you know where you’re looking, the people in there have been nothing short of fantastic when we’ve had occasion to meet.

If you’re gay, bisexual, trans, or fall under the ‘queer’ denomination and are experiencing mental health problems related or unrelated to that, the folks at the Lesbian and Gay Foundation offer a number of services. This especially applies if you’re coming out and need help, or if you’re being worn down by the amount of prejudice you’re meeting. Their website is accessible at www.lgf.org.uk, and they offer a number of other services as well.

Finally, the Disability Support Office can help you in a number of ways if you have received a mental health diagnosis. Their office is on the second floor of University Place.

That’s all. If you’ve read this far you’re either the editor or you can relate. Assuming the latter, I hope this article has informed you a little. In my good moments I know I’m not alone. Hopefully, now you do too.

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